Urban Growth and Environmental Decay Essay Example for Free

Urban Growth and Environmental Decay Essay Although history may be seen as a tapestry portraying the wars and conquests of humankind, it may also be seen as the continuous expansion of human presence in the planet, the domestication of animals, and the reshaping of natural environment into one that fits the needs of humans. Humans are always chasing after the next frontier, oftentimes compromising the environmental cleanliness and healthiness of their very own surroundings (Haughton Hunter, 2003). The history of San Francisco is also characterized by a continuous expansion and chasing after the proverbial next frontier. Brechin (2001) in his book, Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin explores the history of San Francisco and challenges the stereotypical view that the city is tolerant. By tracing through 150 years of the city’s history, the author was able to uncover grievous features of the city’s history. San Francisco was one of the major sites of the Gold Rush in the mid nineteenth century. The founding members of the society, usually from the South, engaged in mining coal and other minerals in the area. This resulted to the environmental devastation of wet lands, streams and forests of San Francisco (Brechin, 2001). The aristocracy who managed most of the mining industry derived tremendous profit from such industry. These profits were then diverted into other endeavors such as the exploitation of forests, currency speculation and extraction of oil. As a result of the process, several towns were destroyed. The forest region around Lake Tahoe diminished drastically, a wide area of farmland were buried by the onslaught of mining debris, leading to the contamination of the soil and bodies of water around the area. In addition to this, Brechin (2001) underscores that the research on nuclear power started at the University of California and was completed in the Manhattan Project. The price of progress is staggering! Although San Francisco, today, is a famous city and frequented by tourists, such progress was attained at such a big cost to the environment and consequently, the cost will be transferred to the future generations. San Francisco, according to Brechin (2001) epitomizes the city in the Atomic Age, together with the environmental havoc that it brings. The example of San Francisco is also being repeated in developing countries. A lot of people are now migrating from the countryside into the cities. This trend makes the cities crowded, unsustainable in terms of the people’s use of the environment and causes pollution. In spite of these environmental issues, these cities are experiencing economic growth. The question, however, is that until when will this growth be experienced? (Evans, 2002). The presence of economic growth alongside environmental decay is also present in Africa, where most of nations in the region are developing ones. Although the efforts of these countries for development are bearing fruit, the environmental issues and problems being experienced by these countries in the continent are the result of activities geared toward making them more developed. The population of elephants in Africa has been greatly affected because of the desire of people to amass wealth from their tusks (Tesi, 2000). Urban growth attracts people from less developed areas of any given country. As such, they would need to have jobs, use the resources available in their environment and sustain their lives. Along the process, the ecological balance is affected. As shown by the experience of San Francisco, as well as by the African continent, economic growth is accompanied by the degradation of the environment. Reference Brechin, G. (2001). The Environment and Development in Africa. California: University of California Press. Evans, P. B. (2002). Livable Cities? : Urban Struggles for Livelihood and Sustainability. California: University of California Press. Haughton, G. , Hunter, G. (2003). Sustainable Cities. London: Routledge. Tesi, M. K. (2000). The Environment and Development in Africa. New York: Lexington Books.

Jurassic Park :: essays research papers

Jurassic Park is a book about the cloning of dinosaurs and they are used as the park entertainment on an island. In this park where dinosaurs are the attraction, not every thing will go as planed. Reading this book will teach someone how Michael Crichton feels about biological science and the cloning of extinct animals. There are things that caused the park to be unsuccessful. Dr. Malcom and Dennis Nedry where two of the parks problems, and the other was the nature of the animals. Dr. Malcom uses the chaos theory to predict the collapse of the park. In the beginning of the book Malcom is introduced to the story. One of the first things Dr. Malcom talks about is the chaos theory. In the first conversation with him in the book Malcom said "Theory tells me that the island will quickly proceed to behave in unpredictable fashion"(Crichton 76). What Malcom means by this is that without even visiting the park he can say that it will fail. Dr. Malcom is a problem in the story because convinces other people that Jurassic Park is a bad idea. Dennis Nedry is the computer expert at Jurassic Park. He deals with all the problems in the parks computer system. Nedry works in the control room with Arnold. Arnold didn’t care much for Nedry when he said "That idiot Nedry turned off the security systems"(Crichton 177). Arnold said this after Dennis Nedry had put a bug in the computer system that shut almost every thing down in Jurassic Park. Nedry is a problem because he has full control of the park from his desk. He being a computer expert can cause any computer system problem he wants. Nature is the biggest problem Jurassic Park has at becoming successful. As stated by Dr. Malcom in the book, he said "Life will find a way"(Crichton ). He meant that the dinosaurs will find a way to live the way they want. This is something that scientists didn’t think about when they brought dinosaurs back to life.

Single Mothers

Just Mom and the Kids More than one fourth of all children in the United States live with only one parent (Healthy Children). Single mothers and their children face a variety of financial and emotional complications on a day-to-day basis. Though single motherhood can be just as satisfying as sharing these experiences with a partner, there are unique difficulties to its situation. Single Motherhood is when a mother is raising a child without the support of spouse. Around half of today's mothers will spend some time as a sole custodial parent (Legal Momentum).Statistics say around forty-five percent of single mothers have never been married (Legal Momentum). That meaner fifty-five percent of single motherhood is due to divorce, abandonment, or death of a husband. The reasons why American women are increasingly becoming single mothers are teen pregnancy, father disappearances, adoption and the biggest of all, divorce (Webster University). Of three people interviewed two single motherhoo d were due to divorced and one was by choice of never being married. Single motherhood is less ideal and leads to extreme amounts of stress.Epidemiological rivers show that single mothers have low levels of self-satisfaction and high levels of anxiety and depression compared to other mothers (Social Science Computing Cooperative). Not being able to provide for your child, going through a divorce or death of a husband and dealing with the behavior of the kids are causes of a single mother's stress. When explaining how she copes with her situation Veronica Williams says, â€Å"It was rough, really rough, trying to manage all they have going on and fitting it in day to day. It was stressful at times, but I took it one day at time did what I could o† (Williams).The depression and stress also can come from all the household tasks, everyday Jobs, and errands the mothers have to take care of on a day-to-day basis. Their responsibilities are overwhelming for one person. Single mother s have a great amount of weight on their shoulders with finances, house keeping, and parenting with no help from a spouse. Veronica Williams, a single mother of two young children, explains the biggest financial burden in her family is childcare. â€Å"Finding child care for my children is a financial burden it can be so expensive, but it's something I need to o in order to work.I have to get money to raise them† (Williams). Having a spouse there to help maintain finances for the family would take a load of weight off of the single mother. A mother has to perform responsibilities that would traditionally be a father's Job, for example; taking out the trash, caring for the law, home repairs and vehicle maintenance. They often look to their children for help around the house. When asked about how her children helped around the house Veronica said, â€Å"They're much younger so they can't do much, but keep their toys picked up.House keeping ill be a little easier when they can help though†(Williams). Looking to the children for assistance around the house is not an option for single mothers when the children are so young. As the children get a little older they become more helpful and responsible. Christine Wilson, is a teacher and single mother of a fifteen year old daughter, when asked about managing housekeeping she explains, â€Å"My daughter is able to complete household chores like washing the dishes, dusting the furniture, well when money is involved† (Wilson).Since the 20th Century children with single others were sent out to work earlier than those who had both parent's in their lives (Gordon, Pitied but Not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare, 1890-1935). As the child gets older the single mothers have a little more help around the house, but whom do they have to turn to for help with parenting? Parenting is extremely difficult without a spouse to turn to for advice, assistance, and comfort.Children of single mothers have a significant amount of responsibilities to take care of, because their mothers especially need help when she is raising the child (Kids Health). The extra responsibilities can bring a lot of stress to the child in that situation. These stressful situations can lead children to sleeping disorders, self- esteem issues, and drug and alcohol abuse. Its only normal for children of single mothers to think about what it would be like if their parent's were still together.Single parent children are more likely to have emotional or behavioral problems. Children of single mothers also are more likely to have low self esteem, use drugs or commit suicide (Wisconsin Fathers). Single motherhood often leads to excessive tress and responsibilities for the children in the family. When asked about how she coped with her parent's divorce eighteen-year-old student, Miracle Hawkins said â€Å"l was young so I didn't really understand it, but now it doesn't really bother me. It's probably better that they aren't together anyway.It's actually a life lesson for me. My mother shows me how to be a strong, independent woman and I feel like if they were together I wouldn't have realized some of the things I know now. It helped me to mature much quicker than friends who aren't living with single mothers†(Hawkins) Having only one parent in a child's life forces them to grow up much faster than a child whose parent's are still together. Through observations, interviews, and research it is concluded that single motherhood is a difficult task not only for the mother, but for their children as well.The financial and emotional problems and responsibilities it comes with are overwhelming for a mother with children. Single motherhood is not an ideal lifestyle, however it is manageable for hard working and dedicated mothers and their kids. While at the Thurman Brisbane Center I observed some of these hard working and dedicated mothers and their children. The Thurman Brisbane Homeless Center provides a variety of programs and services to assist individuals and families who are homeless.Since 2000, Thurman Brisbane Center has provided residential services to more than 15,000 individual men, women and children (Thurman Brisbane Center). When volunteering at the Thurman Brisbane Homeless Shelter I organized arts and crafts, instructed, talked, and played games with the children living in the shelter. I realized the children learned differently depending on their family situation. I deiced that certain children were more independent, than others. The weekend of Valentine's Day the project of the day was to make Valentine's Day cards for their family.There were two little girls, Gabby and Raven, they both were five years old, but had very different personalities. I then wondered if that had anything to do with the parenting of the children. Gabby was very quite and shy and didn't ask for any help when we were creating our Valentine's Day cards. She colored a picture of her mother, her brother and herself. Gabby spelled everything without any help from me. Ere family. She asked for help drawing hearts on her card and she asked me to help her with spelling when she was writing in her card.After talking and observing the girls a little more, I learned Gabby mother was a single mother living at the shelter with only Gabby and her older son. I then learned that Raven's father, mother, and older sister were also living at the shelter with her. These two girls helped me to understand that family situations can make huge impact on personality of a child. Working at the Thurman Brisbane Homeless Center has helped me improved my rebel communication skills, develop more patience, and it taught me valuable Job skills.Before I started working at the homeless shelter, I considered myself a shy person when communicating with people I didn't know. After volunteering for approximately five months, I became more comfortable and confident with myself and with com municating with others. When you learn and practice patience you don't get as irritated, stressed or overwhelmed. Working with young kids requires tons of patience, mainly because you have to explain and re-explain, especially when they re young, Just so they can understand. After working with the kids on a few Sundays I have developed that patience I needed.I learned how to talk in a tone that they would listen to and understand and how to take deep breaths to try to relax when I found myself getting impatient. Working at the shelter taught me valuable Job skills such as, commitment, organization, and active listening. I committed myself to working at the shelter for two hours every other Sunday. Although, there were times when I would have preferred to go to the mall or go to the movies, I knew I had mad a commitment to myself and the staff at the shelter to be there. I was determined to finish the Job I started.Another Job skill I improved on at the Thurman Brisbane Center was or ganization and creativity; I had to come up with ideas for arts and crafts to do with the children at the shelter. Each day we brought entertaining activities for them to do and often awarded them with candy, popcorn, and other prizes for the good awesome art projects they created. The activities and projects were based on the upcoming holidays or the current season. In October, for Halloween time the kids and I made fake ghost and decorated bags for them to put their trick-or-treating candy.During Thanksgiving holiday we made colorful turkeys out of brown paper bags and construction paper. In January our projects consisted of designing snowmen, snowflakes and mittens all out of construction paper. As mentioned before during the month of February we made Valentine's Day cards for families and friends. Before going to the Thurman Brisbane shelter I had to assure I was prepared and organized to make sure the day went smooth. Based on my lesson I had to make sure I had all he art suppl ies and prizes I would need for the day.I had to focus on what they kids liked, didn't like, and their personalities so I could try to relate to them better and develop relationships with them. I now realize that active listening skills are critical when working with anybody. Working at the Thurman Brisbane Center was very beneficial not only did it help with my research project, but it also helped me to develop mentally. Seeing the grins on the kids faces when we came with activities and candy for them made volunteering worthwhile. I was glad to have made a difference in the lives of the children.

Who Is The Right Or Wrong - 976 Words

Everyday we make decisions in order to get through our day. From deciding to get up on time to obeying traffic laws, we have to differentiate between whether what we are about to do or what we are currently doing is right or wrong. This internal judgment of distinguishing whether an act is right or wrong is called morality, but does an act have to be done for the sake of morality, in order to be morally right or have moral worth? According to German philosopher and founder of Kantianism, Immanuel Kant, â€Å" It is impossible to imagine anything at all in the world, or even beyond it, that can be called good without qualification- except good will† (Kant, 316). The good will is our moral obligation to do things for the sake of duty, which is what is considered to be morally correct and just, and the qualification is the motive behind the action, that should not contain self-interest, which is what makes the action moral in itself. On the other hand, we have Jeremy Bentham, a British philosopher and founder of Utilitarianism, asserting, â€Å" Pain and pleasure†¦ for them alone point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do†¦ the standard of right and wrong are fastened to their throne, [being] the principle of utility. The principle of utility is meant that property in any object, whereby it tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good, or happiness, or to prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil, or unhappiness. [The object] is said to promoteShow MoreRelatedWho Is The Right Or Wrong?885 Words   |  4 PagesReid to assume that this is truly demonstrated in those men of legitimate honor, extraordinary and rare as they may be. A sense of morality is presumed to be innate in all capably reasonable human beings. This predisposition of what is morally right or wrong is engrained in our consciousness. Participating in amiable acts heightens one’s appraisal of themselves, and a feeling of worth is a sat isfactory experience for that individual, restricting its ability to be classified as an act of selflessnessRead MoreWho Determines Right And Wrong? Essay1886 Words   |  8 PagesWho Determines Right and Wrong? Since the movie â€Å"Straight Out of Compton† premiered in theaters in 2015, people have paid more attention to who cops are shooting, causing riots, name-calling, and minorities speaking up. Using ethos, logos, and pictures, these three articles try to persuade the audiences wither the problem is in racism or if the population effects police stops. In this paper so the reader can follow along with the articles better, I will refer to each article as article one, twoRead MoreWho s Right s Wrong?955 Words   |  4 PagesWho’s Right Who’s Wrong? â€Å"On Dumpster Diving† by Lars Eighner the author starts his piece by saying what dumpsters mean to himself, other people and hobos. Then he goes on telling his story of when he began Dumpster diving. He mentions that he prefers to call it scavenging rather than dumpster diving because he lacks the ability of lowering himself into the dumpsters. Eighner savings ran out and he put all his income into rent. To get all his life necessities he turn to the dumpsters to get everythingRead MoreHow Language Is The Right And Who Is Wrong923 Words   |  4 Pagesthat language was a powerful enough tool, that our ancestor continued to develop it and slowly but surely language became a universal thing, not because of our genes, but rather because it was a useful tool over several of our enemies. Who is right and who is wrong, is a current debate in the world of academia since there are several aspects about language that seem to point to either approach. Once we learn more about lang uage, the closer they’ll be to figuring out this loaded question. EvolutionRead MoreEssay about Who is to Judge What is Right and What is Wrong?545 Words   |  3 Pagescultures, who is to judge what is Right and what is Wrong? Whose morality do we ought to follow and why? To answer this question one must first come to a clear understanding of the meaning of right and wrong- a topic that has become so subjective and distorted that it is practically impossible to clearly define. Individuals have come to create their own morality so that what is right to one may not be considered right to another and what is wrong to one may not necessarily be wrong to anotherRead MoreWho In This World Is To Say To Us WhatS Wrong And Right?1721 Words   |  7 PagesWho in this world is to say to us what s wrong and right? As a college student writing this paper i m in the midst of a social and cultural issue that has many different opinions and many different feelings to those who take this topic to heart . The main question is should abortion be legal ? so many answers are out there but the main way to look at it is how does that person view this , is it a problem , or not. Through this paper i will be providing validated sources from both sides showingRead MoreSocrat es And Aristotle On Ethical And Moral Grounds978 Words   |  4 Pageswith the statement, â€Å"there is no objective right and wrong because people never agree about what is right and wrong†. What is right and wrong?† Life is characterized by many situations that require decision making, especially on ethical and moral grounds. The issue of what makes an action right and wrong has been studied for a very long time and several theories developed to address this issue. Socrates and Aristotle are some of the early philosophers who came up with theories about the rightnessRead MoreWhat Is Right And Wrong?958 Words   |  4 PagesWhat is right and wrong?† and â€Å"What is Truth?† Life is characterized by many situations that require decision making, especially on ethical and moral grounds. The issue of what makes an action right and wrong has been studied for a very long time and several theories developed to address this issue. Socrates and Aristotle are some of the early philosophers who came up with theories about the rightness or wrongness of our actions. As noted by Warnek (2005), Socrates considered self-knowledge as necessityRead MoreAntigone Essay1186 Words   |  5 Pageswe need to the wrong things for the right reasons.† There are many instances where this quote stands true, like in Antigone, Twelve Angry, and the decisions by Harry S. Truman and Edward Jenner. There was success but there was also consequences in doing these wrong things. In any event, in some situations, it is right to do the wrong thing for the right reasons. In Sophocles’s play, Antigone, the main character Antigone makes the conscious decision of doing what she thinks is right for her familyRead MoreEthics : Ethics And Ethics851 Words   |  4 PagesBerger who stated, â€Å"Without ethics, man has no future. This is to say, mankind without them cannot be itself. Ethics determine choices and actions and suggest difficult priorities† (Berger). His meaning behind that quote is simple. In this world is there a right and a wrong way of doing something? In this world, ethics determines our actions and the consequences that come about those actions, determining right and wrong. The real question is however, are Ethics black and white? Is what is â€Å"right†, always